Oil other than Rohloff??

[scottyoz]

Hi all,
I was just wanting to know if anyone here has used oil in their Rohloff other than the Rohloff specific oil?  The reason i am asking this is how different can oils really be?, Apart from their viscuss qualities and wheteher or not any addatives have been included i can not really see why Rohloff oil costs so much more than any other.

I am aware of issues relating to warranty use if other oils have been used but say if for some reason i was in the outback of Australia (i live in Australia and some towns can be more than 1000km apart and some of those towns may only have 10 people living in them),   and the Rohloff dumps its oil for some reason, what other oil could be used instead.

Also Rohloff oil here in Australia is extremely expensive[!] and only 2 shops that i know of have any. As for buying it in bulk i would hate to think of how expensive that would be. Also Rohloffs are as rare as hens teeth over here, in 10 years of Audax riding i have only seen 3 and one of them is mine (i have only had mine 4 months).

Anyway, thanks for any feedback,  Scott...[]

[PH]

I wouldn't risk it, different oils can be very different.  For example Rohloff oil won't damage the plastic parts inside the hub, to be sure another oil wouldn't you'd have to know a lot about both the oil and the plastic parts.
 

quote: the Rohloff dumps its oil for some reason, what other oil could be used instead.

I understand it's not possible to loose all the oil, enough of it sticks to the components for several thousand km.  
 

quote:As for buying it in bulk i would hate to think of how expensive that would be.

Still worth investigating, especially if you can split it two or three ways.  Would SJS ship to you?

[simonsydney]

Scott, how much is the oil in Australia ? I live in Sydney and bought my RST last year, and got SJS to include some oil for the first change, from memory it was only $20-$30. For an annual oil change, this is pin money. After spending thousands on the hub, I certainly won't be trying to save a few dollars by using the wrong sort of oil.

I agree with PH, they are meant to be rideable for a long way with little/no oil, and an oil dump 'for some reason' would be a serious and probably very unusual circumstance.

What sort of rohloff equiped bike do you have?
cheers,
Simon

[stutho]

Hi Scottyoz

I really think it is in your own interest to stick with the Rohloff oil in the hub.  The reliability of these hubs is legend BUT that is when using Rohloff oil.  Personally I wouldn't use anything else.  I do however sympathise about the cost of the single oil change kit.  Is there any chance you and simonsydney could split a 1-Liter kit.  This would give you a lifetimes supply and would probably only cost the equivalent of 3 individual oil changes.

Stutho

[robchis]

Just to resurrect this old thread, if there's any other Rohloff Speedhub users in Australia, I'd certainly be interested in doing a "bulk" purchase of the oil among other people out here....

[bike_the_planet]

Just to resurrect this old thread, if there's any other Rohloff Speedhub users in Australia, I'd certainly be interested in doing a "bulk" purchase of the oil among other people out here....

Robchis - my local bike shop/frame repairer here in Perth has just become an approved Rohloff repairer.

I asked them to contact the main Australian Rohloff distributor (based in Brisbane) with a view to bulk-buying some oil.

Apparently, according to Rohloff Australia, the Australian import regulations wrt safe handling of chemicals mean that it is too expensive to get the bulk oil deliveries approved and shipped here. Therefore Rohloff Australia only stock oil and flushing oil in the small bottles.

This is very disappointing as it is hardly cost effective to buy it the stuff.

Cheers,

Tony

[robchis]

Wow. Thanks for the reply, Tony. That really sucks. 

Maybe we can buy some from overseas, get it put on a shipping container by boat (so the dangers of transporting that stuff are allayed).

Does anybody know about the restrictions in Australia of importing large tins of chemicals (well, as large as the Rohloff oil bulk tin) and shipping that stuff around Australia in smaller quantities?

Rob

[bike_the_planet]

Wow. Thanks for the reply, Tony. That really sucks. 

Maybe we can buy some from overseas, get it put on a shipping container by boat (so the dangers of transporting that stuff are allayed).

Does anybody know about the restrictions in Australia of importing large tins of chemicals (well, as large as the Rohloff oil bulk tin) and shipping that stuff around Australia in smaller quantities?

Rob

I'll look into it and see what I can find out. There must be an MSDS (material safety data sheet) for the stuff.

As a matter of interest, my local repairer recently serviced a Rohloff for a german lady who had cycled from Europe via Russia to Asia and then Australia (including the Gibb river road).

Just to give her Rohloff a thorough going over, she had thoughtfully decided to do a few river crossings during the trip  .

When they serviced the hub they found that excessive water had got passed the seal along with bits of sand that had further worn the seal. This in turn meant that oil leaked for the last few thousand kms of her ride. I think she turned up at the shop with 11 of her 14 gears...

The shop had to completely dismantle the hub, remove the gear unit and replace the hub's main snap-in bearings which were rusted as a result.

What was really impressive, though, was that the gear unit was pretty much pristine. New bearing, gaskets and seals and it was shifting as good as new.

Whilst having some oil with you is a good idea, if you miss an oil change then I think, as this demonstrates, it's no showstopper.

Cheers